Moving Forward
by cerebralconfinement
Summary: Neku is part of the Game one last time, but who is is partner? Not from his POV. Name changed, but I'll probably think of something better. Now dead.
1. Day One: Bad Vacation

I was fresh off the plane in Tokyo, and I was kinda lost. I had picked up a map of the city, but it didn't help much, so I ended up wandering around aimlessly until I found a bus stop. The bus there didn't exactly go where I wanted to be, but beggars can't be choosers. I ended up in the Shibuya district. I figured it wasn't so bad, considering Shibuya was one of the most popular places to be. The streets were incredibly crowded, people spilling over from the sidewalks just to have room to walk. I wandered for a while, paying attention to nothing in particular, when a car slammed into me. I guess I had wandered too far from the sidewalk while sightseeing. Funnily enough, the last thought I had before everything went black was, "Damn, there goes my vacation."

I woke up in the middle of an intersection filled with people. I spent a few minutes wondering exactly how I was still alive and kicking, when my cell phone started ringing. I pulled it out, but then I remembered that I didn't bring my cell phone. I stood there in shock for a second, the phone still ringing. I figured that I might as well answer it. I had gotten a text message. "Get to 104 within 60 minutes. Fail and be erased." It was from some people calling themselves 'reapers'. I figured it was probably just a prank, at least until I felt like someone put my hand over a fire. I raised my hand to look at it and found a ticking red timer on my palm. "This is insane," I muttered, only half believing it. "At least 104 is just a block away."

I began walking towards the gigantic shopping center, but hit an invisible wall when I tried to leave the intersection. It became visible as interlocking hexagons where I touched it, but otherwise there was no sign of it being there. _That's just dumb,_ I thought. _Why would they assign an impossible task?_ Since I couldn't go that way, I decided to see where I could go. For some reason, the only exit that wasn't blocked off was the one that led to the famous statue of Hachiko. Apparently Hachiko was a real dog that waited for his dead master for years before dying himself. Why they would erect a statue in a dog's honor, I have no idea. I wandered over, my timer ticking away slowly, and sat on a bench. Suddenly, some animal-like graffiti symbols appeared floating in midair. I watched stupefied as they descended on random people, and those people disappeared.

I was frozen in horror as one of them began to move towards me. I knew I needed to run, but I couldn't. I heard a voice cry out, "Make a pact with me!" I absentmindedly nodded and stammered out my assent, my attention still on the symbol. I was pulled off the bench by an unseen force and there were some random flashing lights. I closed my eyes against the brightness, and when I opened them again, I was standing next to a teen with a purple shirt, baggy shorts and violently orange spiky hair. He was examining me.

"I guess you'll do. Not that I have a choice now, anyway," he mused. "You got any pins?"

I checked my pocket in answer to that, and discovered a couple of pins I knew I didn't have before. One was black with a white skull decal. One was white with a blue and yellow projectile on it. The last was blue with crisscrossing black slash marks on it.

"Good. Why don't you try to use them?"

I looked at him like he was insane. "What do you mean, use them?"

"You can erase the Noise with these pins. Why don't you try it out?"

"Are you high? How could pins do anything to erase Noise, whatever the hell that is?"

"Focus your thoughts through them."

I sighed. "Fine. I'll try it." I put away the skull pin and bullet pin, and concentrated on the one that was left. Nothing happened. I felt an urge to punch something. I refrained from punching the dude next to me, figuring I could do something constructive with this violence, and instead hit one of those graffiti symbols. Translucent claws emanated from my fist and ripped it apart.

I stared at my hand, unwilling to believe what just happened. I glanced over at my new partner, who was smiling a little. I turned to him and said, "I guess we're stuck with each other, then?"

He nodded.

"So, what's your name? I'm gonna need to call you something."

"Neku. Yours?"

"Alan."

We shook hands. "We should probably get to 104. We only have ten minutes."

I checked. 9:43, 9:42, 9:41… "Yeah." We walked the short distance to 104, the wall having disappeared for some reason, and completed the mission.


	2. Day Two: don't Trust Me

Author's Notes: Yeah…so…I don't really have anything to say, other than please review and tell me how I can make it better. Thanks in advance!

I woke up on the pavement. My first thought was _How the hell did I fall asleep?_ This was soon set aside in favor of the more relevant and more easily answerable _Where am I?_ I sat up and looked around. Neku was nowhere in sight and I was in front of a place called WildKat. It seemed to be a café. I walked around a bit, trying to find him, but I couldn't go very far, as walls blocked off both ends of the street. I didn't have anything better to do, and I was kinda hungry, so I checked my pockets for yen, found I had about six hundred, enough to buy a snack, and entered WildKat.

There was nobody at the counter, so I sat and waited. After a few minutes, a tall man with black hair, shades, a white shirt, and a black vest and pants emerged from the back room, with Neku following. He looked a little surprised to see me.

"What are you doing in here?"

"It's a café, and I'm hungry."

The man walked behind the counter and faced me. "You must be Neku's partner this time around."

I nodded.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Sanae Hanekoma. You can call me Mr. H." He extended his hand.

I shook it. "Nice to meet you, too. Could I get a muffin?"

He laughed. "You got you priorities straight, don't ya?" He bagged up a muffin and handed it to me. "That'll be 400 yen."

I handed him the money and took the bag. I pulled the muffin out, trashed the bag, and started munching. I turned to Neku. "So, what's up with the walls?"

He shook his head. "I don't know, but I hope they'll be taken down when we get the mission."

Right on cue, our phones rang. I flipped it open and read aloud. "Shed some light on the situation at Shibu-Q Heads. You have 240 minutes. Fail and face erasure." The timer burned itself into my palm. I didn't notice it as much this time, but it still hurt a lot. When the pain faded, I looked at Neku. "I have no idea what this means. You got any idea?"

He thought a little, and replied, "Shibu-Q Heads is a huge department store. I'd guess that the power's out there. There was a mission similar to this in my first Game."

"First? You mean you've done this before?"

"Yeah. This is my fourth time." He clenched his fist.

I glanced down. "It's that bad, huh?"

"Normally, I don't think so. But then, the Games I was in weren't exactly normal."

"Define normal."

That got a little laugh out of him. "Yeah, I guess none of this is normal. But you get used to it."

Mr. H interjected, "You guys should probably get going. After all you've gone through, it would be a shame to see you erased on the second day." He waved us out of WildKat. "You should come back when this is over and get a cuppa joe. On the house."

Neku began to walk out. "I'll be sure to take you up on that. See you later."

I followed him through the door and out onto the street. "Which way is it?"

He pointed down the street, in the direction of a bridge. "It's over there."

"What about the wall?"

He pointed to a person I hadn't noticed before. He was wearing a red hoodie and a black baseball cap, so I couldn't quite make out his face. "That's the Reaper in charge of the wall. He'll set a condition, and if we can meet it, he'll take down the wall."

"Is that all the Reapers do? It must be boring."

"No, some interact with the Game more directly, summoning Noise to try and erase Players."

"So Noise are those symbols I saw yesterday?"

"Yeah. They turn into monsters when you fight them, though."

"Why would you be fighting them?"

"Well, it could be a mission, you might need some more pins, or you might want to upgrade the pins you already have."

"So…they turn into pins when they die?"

"More or less."

"And your pins get stronger the more you use them?"

"Yep. It works kinda like a video game, but in real life." He walked up to the Reaper.

"'Sup, Players. Want past this wall? Here, erase these Noise." He extended his hand and a few Noise symbols appeared floating in midair.

I glanced at Neku. "You ready?"

He took a battle stance. "Are you?"

I took out my pins. "Of course."

Neku disappeared, and frog-like monsters emerged from the symbols. I focused my thoughts on the pin with the bullet on it, but nothing happened. I shrugged, pulled out the other pin, and kicked a frog, a blade coming out of the sole of my foot. It reeled back, and I continued kicking and punching it until it vanished in a burst of static. Another frog shot some bubbles at me, so I jumped and came down on it with both feet, erasing it instantly. When I turned to the other one, it just dissolved.

Neku popped back into sight, astonishing me. "Where the hell did you go?"

"We fight the Noise in two places at once. If one of them gets erased in one zone, it's erased in the other. Likewise, if one of us gets hurt…" He trailed off.

"So does the other," I finished. "So I'm just gonna have to be careful."

The Reaper cut in, "Objective completed. Wall clear." He tossed me a pin and walked away.

I glanced at it. It was yellow, with the number 10000 and the yen symbol emblazoned on it in black.

Neku looked over at me. "You can trade that for yen over your phone."

"How does that work?"

"Beats me, but I'm not complaining."

I checked, and sure enough, there was an option to sell my pins on my phone. I highlighted the one in my hand and hit the button. The pin disappeared, and I felt something in my pocket that wasn't there before. I reached in and pulled out ten thousand yen. "Nice."

We walked out onto the bridge, stopping for a few seconds to appreciate the view of the park, then walking through an underpass to get to Towa Records, one of the three music stores in Shibuya. We stopped there to check out their selection for a few minutes, but ended up leaving without buying anything. When we entered the next area, Neku stopped and checked his phone.

He turned to face me and hesitated for a minute, as if not sure what to say. "Before we complete the mission…there's someplace I'd like to go."

I was a bit curious as to where and why, but I agreed, considering that we did have three and a half hours. He led me back to the Statue of Hachiko, where I saw three people grouped right in front of it. The tallest was wearing a black cap with a skull on it, a black sleeveless T-shirt, beige-colored shorts, and a black skull pendant. The girl standing next to him, who I guessed to be his sister, was wearing a black cap similar to his, but with a smaller skull on it. Her shirt was pinkish with a heart-shaped skull and crossbones plastered on it. The other girl, standing across from them, had short black hair and glasses, and was wearing a green shirt. In her arms was a black stuffed cat.

The tall guy looked at the other two and said, "I don't think Phones is showin' up today, yo. Maybe we should try again tomorrow."

The girl with the stuffed cat turned to him and replied, "We should at least wait a little longer, Beat. He might just be running late."

Beat countered, "Naw, Phones wouldn't keep us waiting, Shiki. He must be in the Game again."

I glanced over at Neku, guessing that he was the person Beat was talking about, considering the headphones he wore and that he looked pretty close to crying.

The third girl chimed in, "I think Beat may be right, Shiki. He didn't come yesterday, and he hasn't come today. We can at least try Reaper Creeper. If he's here…" She left the rest of the sentence unsaid.

Shiki nodded. "Alright." She pulled out a piece of paper with a red symbol, a white symbol, and a black symbol and a 10-yen coin. She placed the coin in the middle of the paper.

Neku took a pin out of his pocket.

Shiki took a breath, then started some sort of incantation. I wasn't really paying attention, as I was watching Neku. When she finished, Neku concentrated and the coin moved slowly to White.

She let out a sigh and smiled. She continued with a question. "Are you safe? If you are, go to white."

Neku stood there for a few seconds, then moved the coin to white. I shrugged, thinking we weren't really very safe, but whatever.

Shiki finished with one more question. "Will you be here in six days? If so go to white."

Neku didn't hesitate this time. He moved it straight to white.

Shiki put away the paper and coin and turned back to the other two. "Beat, Rhyme, let's meet back here in six days. Same time."

They all left, Beat and Rhyme going one way, and Shiki going another. Neku stood where he was for a minute, and I left him alone with his thoughts.

Finally he said, "Let's get this mission done," and walked back the way we came. I followed him as he navigated us to Shibu-Q Heads and we stopped in front.

There was a crowd of people outside, all yelling at each other.

"He stole it!"

"No, she's the thief!"

"It's definitely that guy! I saw him!"

"It was pitch black, how could you see anything?"

The voices all blended together to create a cacophony of clamoring cries. I covered my ears to shut it out, but it just got louder. Eventually the noise became too much for me and I had to go back a block to recover from the sheer volume.

Neku followed me back, clearly also stunned by the loudness of the crowd. We sat on the street for a few minutes, neither of us willing to go back, but both of us knowing that we had to.

I was the first to get up, noticing that we had 150 minutes left, and we hadn't even done anything for the mission. I walked quickly in the other direction to find a store that sold earplugs. It took me twenty minutes, but I felt it was worth it. I gave Neku a pair and put a pair of my own in before heading back to Shibu-Q Heads.

The noise was more bearable with the earplugs, but it was still very loud. I entered the store, and it was pitch black. All the lights were off, and it didn't seem like anything else was working, although it was pretty difficult to tell. I exited, figuring that the mission was either to restore the power or to find the thief. Or both. I really hoped we had enough time.

I sighed and exited the store. Neku was standing there, his hands over his headphones and his eyes closed. I waited patiently for him to finish whatever he was doing. After half a minute, he opened his eyes and began to walk towards one of the people.

"That guy's the thief," he explained.

I had no idea how he figured that out, until he informed me that the Player Pin, the black one with the skull on it, lets Players read the minds of the people we see. I was pretty impressed at that. I was somewhat less impressed when he told me that it would also attract Noise.

"Now, how do we let the other people know?" he mused.

"I dunno, but I'm gonna try to find a way to restore the power in the store. Got a flashlight or something I can use?"

Neku tossed me a flashlight in reply. I caught it and entered Shibu-Q Heads once again. I flipped on the light to find the place ransacked. I checked the other floors, and it was the same. I shook my head and began searching for a circuit breaker on the first floor. It took me about fifteen minutes, but it was there. The main switch was in the off position. I figured it was too easy, but flipped it on anyways. Of course, nothing happened. I put it back to the off position, just in case, and walked back out. Neku was scanning again.

He blinked out of view and some frog and wolf Noise appeared. I sighed and gripped my pin. Right away, wolf Noise rushed me from both sides. I instinctively jumped backwards, landing on top of one and tearing huge gashes in it. I flipped off of it and came down hard on the other Noise, slicing it in two, and I ended up erasing them both. Wait, where did I learn that? I shrugged and told myself that it didn't matter, as long as it kept me alive. Neku erased one of the frogs, so I stabbed the other one. Static bled from the gaping hole, the frog slowly fading away. Neku reappeared next to me, shiny new pin in hand.

I frowned at it. "Where did that come from?"

Neku tossed it to me. It was blank.

I looked at his face, trying to figure out if this was a joke or something. Finally he responded. "Mr. H gave it to me during my first Game. If we fight in sync, it unleashes a powerful psyche. Did you have anything else in your pockets besides your phone and your pins?"

I pulled out a few American coins. "Why is it important?"

Neku examined them. "This should help use the fusion pin."

I looked at him incredulously. "How do coins let us fight in sync?"

He raised his head. "I don't know. Why don't we find out?"

I took a few calming breaths, then nodded. Neku started scanning, and vanished a few seconds later. I readied the coins and my pin, and when the Noise appeared, I threw the coins into the air. They hovered, spinning rapidly. I was going to watch them for a while, but I was interrupted by a blow to my back. It sent me flying, but I quickly recovered and snatched a coin out of the air. Heads. I countered with a flurry of kicks, then grabbed another coin. Heads. I erased a second Noise, taking another coin. Heads. I could feel Neku somehow at this point. I went back the first Noise, finishing it off and grabbing a fourth coin. Heads. Now I could see Neku fighting the Noise. I quickly grabbed the other two coins, both showing heads. I felt unstoppable.

Neku asked, "You ready?"

I replied, "Hell yes!"

There was a weird light show, like the one when we made a pact, and I felt energy building in me. I yelled, "Feel the burn!"

Neku responded, "The fire will spread!"

We teleported back to our separate zones and a ring of fire emanated from me, erasing all the surviving Noise. I noticed something glinting near where one of the Noise was and picked it up. It was a pin. It read '100 ¥'. I pocketed it and Neku reappeared. I faced him. "That was quite possibly the most awesome thing I've ever done."

He smiled a little and replied, "You get used to it. Let's finish the mission, we only have 90 minutes left."

I handed Neku his flashlight. "The circuit breaker doesn't work in there."

He took it, playing with the switch. "Maybe a Noise is interfering with it. We should check that."

I nodded and led the way into Shibu-Q Heads. I led him straight for the circuit breaker and scanned it. I felt a disturbance, sort of like patterned static, near it. I focused on the static and I sort of fell into it. I reappeared in the store, and it was nearly pitch black. I saw glowing red eyes at about my eye level, and I assumed it was the Noise. I tossed my coins into the air, the red light glinting off of them. I started to attack it, but my attacks didn't seem to be doing any damage, so I quickly stopped. It began to retaliate. I stayed on the defensive, dodging its attacks. I grabbed a few coins, but they came out heads, tails, tails, and so on. I guessed it only worked while I was attacking. Suddenly, the lights came on, and the Noise was revealed. It was a giant bat. I tried attacking it again, because, hey, it's not like it could hurt anything. This time my attacks had an effect. I beat on it until it collapsed to the ground motionless, snatching a few coins as I did so, all tails. I kept attacking, nabbing another coin, it too coming up tails. I hit it with one final roundhouse kick, and it began shedding smaller bats. I jumped back and got another coin, which made five tails. I could feel that the fusion was almost ready, but the lights darkened once more. I began dodging, feeling a near miss rip through my shirt. I could see Neku attacking some of the small bats that were latched on to some wires, but I was focusing on him enough that I didn't notice a blow coming straight for me. I returned my attention to dodging, but it was too late. It slammed into me, sending me flying into a wall.

I picked myself up and spit out some blood, mentally berating myself for being so stupid. Luckily, I wasn't hurt bad enough for it to affect my movement, so I didn't get hit again. The area lit up again, and I sliced it in two, grabbing my final coin. Unfortunately, it wasn't dead yet, just degenerated to a smaller form. "Now!" I screamed at Neku.

The fusion activated. As it began to manifest the flames, I felt myself healing, and I was a little surprised – but only a little. The little bat was burnt to a crisp, and the lights stayed on as we exited the battle. I slumped to the ground, exhausted.

"Did we finish the mission?" I mumbled, feeling too lazy to check my timer.

Neku shook his head. "No. Which sucks. Looks like we do have to catch the thief."

I sighed. "Dammit. You go on ahead. I'll be out in a few minutes."

I watched Neku leave, then drew my right hand up to my face. 55:23, 55:22, 55:21… I sighed again. "At least we have plenty of time…"

Neku came back in. "I saw a couple other Players working on that part of the mission, so we can probably just kick back until they finish it." He plopped down next to me. "So, how did you die?"

I thought back, staring at my timer. "It was a car accident. I just arrived in Tokyo two days ago, and I was too busy seeing the sights to notice I had walked into the middle of the road. Bam, here I was. How about you?" I turned my head to face him.

His face darkened. "I was murdered."

I sat up, fully facing him. "How and why?"

"I was admiring CAT's graffiti, and he just…ran up and shot me." He was staring at his Player Pin. "He did it to put me in this damn Game." He closed his hand into a fist. "He was going to destroy Shibuya, and he wanted me to help him."

"Who?"

He seemed to be trying to crush the pin. "The Composer. He runs Shibuya." He put the pin away. "I don't wanna talk about it." The timer disappeared, but Neku seemed not to notice. "What was your price?"

I was a little puzzled. "Price?"

"When you enter the Game, the thing you value most is taken from you. So what was it?"

I clenched my fist. "I don't know, but…for some reason, I'm reminded of my best friend, John." I came dangerously close to crying.

Neku put his hand on my shoulder. "What happened to him?"

I pushed his hand away. "I killed him."


End file.
